About St James House

St James House was built in 1867 as a Victorian Factory School that supported the ceramics industry. It was acquired by the City Council in 1995 and was extensively refurbished yet it retained the original character of the building. The first St James School was built on this site in 1836, a single room school, the land was donated by the Duke of Sutherland.

St James is of simple Gothic style, quite low, single-story building with arched windows and a patterned, steeply pitched roof. The building has been modernised to a high standard meeting the needs of small businesses. There is a large conservatory area where business is discussed and the whole building is now heated by a Biomass boiler making the building very carbon efficient.